I wanted to tackle the issue head-on but not seem insensitive to others.

But I realize that I’m at that age where political correctness is not my thing and that truth is truth. Especially when it comes to proclaiming the Gospel.

Which brings me to the article that I will link to at the bottom of my post.

Essentially, the author is claiming that Jesus was the first transgender man.

Yep, that’s right. Jesus was the first transgender man.

I’ll stop while you catch your breath.

What concerns me the most is that the author of the article claims to be a Christian. Here is her explanation as to why she believes Jesus was transgender:

“The worst offenders are the Christian’s who claim to take the Bible literally. Of course they don’t actually do that; they impose their own filters on stories and phrases to fit their particular ideology. If they really did as they claim to do, they would quickly see that Jesus must be, by their own exegetical rules, the first transgender male.”

She goes on to say that Eve was the first human clone because she was created from one of Adam’s ribs. Adam (being male) has an X and a Y chromosome. She believes that, since Eve would also have this same chromosomal pairing, God would need to change her into a woman. At this point, she is making assumptions. This is, of course, a false assumption as Scripture points out:

“With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.” (Mark 10:27)

With God, all things are possible. God knows all. He created man; He created him with all the parts and pieces he would need. He knew what they would need physically, mentally, and genetically. Don’t you think He would know that Eve would need to have two X chromosomes?

The author then goes on to say the following about the birth of Jesus:

“Then along comes Jesus and the whole pattern is both repeated and reversed. The first couple’s refusal to cooperate is turned around by Mary’s yes, and the second act of cloning occurs. The Holy Spirit comes upon the second Eve, and the child takes flesh from her and is born. Born of her flesh. Born with XX chromosome pairing. Born genetically female, and yet trans-formed into man.”

An amateur understanding of basic biology will tell you that only one chromosome comes from the mother (an X) and the other comes from the father (a Y). In this case, the Y came from the Father, through the Holy Spirit. And as an added bonus, the Y came from the Father because if it had come from a human male, then Jesus would have the same sin nature that has been passed down from Adam since the fall in the Garden of Eden.

I think what concerns me most is that new Christians will read this and ponder its possibilities and take it as truth rather than the deception that it actually is. Authors such as this can lead many Christians astray unless we are properly armed and in the Word, studying and learning.

Pray up and be ready because there are more people like this author out there.

I wanted to say that this is a follow-up to a previous blog post about the coming zombie apocalypse that has been ushered in thanks to the mobile phone. In reality, this will tie in with that post rather nicely (I hope).

A friend of mine pointed me to an article she read in an online publication called the Atlantic.

In the article, the author, Jean M. Twenge told the story of a 13-year-old girl named Athena (not her real name) who lived in Houston, Texas. The author asked how she spent her summers and Athena said that her and her friends would go to the mall about once a month and hang out.

Most of the time, though, she and her friends would spend time together on their phones using Snapchat. They try to keep up their Snapstreaks. The rest of the time Athena (not her real name) spent time alone in her room on her phone. She said that that’s just the way her generation is. “We didn’t have a choice to know any life without iPads or iPhones. I think we like our phones more than we like people.”

I’ve seen this as well. And I didn’t study is the way the author did. Simple observation of people can tell you a lot. Almost any direction you turn, you’ll see people walking around on their phones, either talking with someone or looking down at their Facebook feed.

I grew up in a generation where we didn’t have smart phones or iPads or any kind of device that started with an ‘i.’

If you wanted to make a phone call, you stuck your finger in the hole of the first number, spun the dial clockwise until it hit the little gold stop and then let go. Then you did that six more times and waited for it to ring.

Maps didn’t start with the name ‘Google;’ it started with ‘Rand McNally.’ If you wanted to get someplace you’ve never been, you plotted your course on a good old-fashioned map and brought it with you to make sure you got there.

It was a much simpler time, filled with conversations with people who were face to face rather than through a text message. You played board games at night with your family; you read books (yes, books with actual paper pages).

Believe me, I’m not a ‘fuddy-duddy.’ I work in the technology field so I’m not unfamiliar with it. I think that we are becoming a nation lost in the maze of bits and bytes swirling around in the ether.

What does all this have to do with the coming great Deception? Plenty, I think.

Many of us have now turned into the ‘Heads Down Generation’ (that’s my own phrase, copyright pending…just kidding). Jesus warned us that there will be a great deception coming where even the elect shall be deceived. What better way to have that happen then through mobile devices that everyone is constantly starting into?

We are living in an age of fake news where anything, fact checked or not, is believed to be true. We access this news on our mobile devices or laptops. Can you imagine sending something over the air that causes everyone to believe whatever the anti-christ says?

As Christians, we need to be more aware of our surroundings and what’s happening beyond the shiny hand-held devices we carry. Some of us may fall into the same trap as those who are not saved.

If you’re not saved, give yourself a fighting chance and come to Jesus. I can’t guarantee an easy ride but it’ll be better than the one the deceived will be on.

Last year, my company took the initiative to promote wellness and well-being by offering different seminars on healthy eating, nutrition, and stress relief. Yesterday was the seminar on stress relief.

As part of this initiative, they are going to have a 12 week yoga class in our office after hours.

Being a discerning Christian, I realized that yoga is a bad idea. But, having an interest in keeping my job, I decided not to tell anyone that yoga is not a good thing to do. If anyone asks if I’m going, I will politely tell them I’m not and the reasons why.

As I was perusing the Charisma News website, I came across the article mentioned in my post. So that’s twice in a week. Okay, God, I’m listening.

That’s why I’m writing this post. If He had his hand in this, then I’m writing this for Him and for all of you as well.

Yoga has been around for close to five thousand years. It is more than just a series of moves and stretches; it is also used as a path for one to grow spiritually. The yogis believe that, through yoga, one can connect to the god within us. They believe that God is all around us and in everything. Therefore, we are God. This flies in the face of what Christians believe: we believe God is a completely separate person.

At the heart of the practice of yoga is spiritual growth. Yogis believe that yoga isn’t just about different physical exercises; it’s also about engaging your mind and spirit as part of the exercise. They believe you need to experience ‘kundalini’ in order to get the most from yoga. This involves aligning your ‘chakras’ so that you can experience the fullness of spiritual grown and the ability to learn spiritual lessons.

By opening your mind and body through these practices, you are also creating a door through which other things can enter, such as demonic spirits. I don’t think I need to tell you what kinds of issues this can cause.

I’m sure some of you might be thinking that I sound pretty wacky and far out but this isn’t something that is far-fetched. And I think any discerning Christian should take stock if they are practicing yoga an decide if it’s really worth the risk.A quick Bing search (yes, I do prefer Bing to Google…diversity, right?) shows that there are some churches that are offering yoga classes.

Should the church be engaging in this? After thinking about some of the things I’ve read, the answer is no. It’s difficult to separate the physical aspect from the spiritual. The very nature of the positions can open you up to things that you don’t want to be open to. And the spiritual nature of yoga teaches you to focus on yourself rather than on God, a huge no-no when it comes to Christianity.

Whether or not your decide to practice yoga is strictly your decision. Just be aware of the consequences of any practice that takes you away from God and into the realm of mysticism and the New Age. It’s a journey from which you may never come back.

I had a completely different topic in mind when it came to writing this post but I’ve switched gears and decided to address this instead.

While this article is over a year old, I believe it to be a precursor of what today’s church is trying to accomplish: ecumenism.

In a nutshell, the Ecumenical Movement is a movement that brings all faiths and religions together into one large church called the World Church. This isn’t restricted to Protestant denominations. This will include ALL faiths, whether you are Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, and yes, even Islam (how this one will work is beyond me because Islam doesn’t even worship the God of the Bible). There are reports that he is also trying to bring New Age Mysticism into this.

Rather than go on about how this will affect the church body, I will let you read the article and decide for yourself.

The one thing I will say about this is that the church is headed in the wrong direction and we need to wake up. Seriously. We need to wake up and see what’s going on. I believe we are in the last days and the church is going to sleep right through them.

I just happened to be perusing my Facebook feed when I came upon an article, dated June 11, 2017, from the Atlantic. The title of the article reads as follows:

“Southern Baptists Embrace Gender-Inclusive Language in the Bible.”

The title itself lit the kindling. As I read the article, the fire started.

We have gone full-bore, throttle-to-the-firewall into the Land of Political Correctness and I’m not sure there’s anyway to stop this crazy train and turn back.

It started with Target changing their bathroom policy and then it snowballed from there. We are now at the point where people now longer identify as man or woman but can now identify a ‘non-specific non-binary.’ I don’t actually have any idea what that is.

I grew up in a time where this sort of thing was unheard of. If there were people out there who identified as transgender, it was not displayed in the open square as it is today. Things like this were kept out of the limelight.

Now it is displayed openly to the point where people are going out of their way to not offend anyone.

Now don’t get the wrong impression of me. I am not the kind of person who will treat someone identifying like this any differently than anyone else. I just find it disturbing that we are catering to approximately .02% of the population.

And the church, being the last bastion of hope and righteousness, is succumbing to this as well:

At the beginning of this year, the Calvary Baptist Church hired a lesbian couple as pastors.

The Methodist Church has appointed its first transgender, non-binary member of clergy.

And now, in what I call the ultimate blasphemy, the Southern Baptist Church has commissioned a translation of the Bible that completely does away with gender-specific identifications.

As an example, the term ‘man’ is now translated to ‘human’ or ‘person’; the ‘men of Israei’ now becomes ‘fellow Israelites.

And the list goes on.

How did we get to this point where we are now altering the Word of God so that people are not offended by it? If there are parts of the Bible that offend you, then maybe you need to examine your life in more detail and find out why.

The Word of God should not be altered in any way. It should be translated as, as closely as possible, from the original texts. I am a King James person and, at times, New King James. When we start to water down the text, we also start to water down its meaning. And when we do that, we start to water down the message of the Gospel.

And isn’t that what is being preached in some of the churches today?

Okay, I’m off my soapbox. What I wrote here may have offended some and you may decide to stop following my blog and that’s okay. I don’t take it personally. I started this blog as a fun outlet, without thinking anyone would read it. And then people started reading it.

I put myself out there and it’s me on the page. I’m getting too old to worry about who I’m going to offend. I don’t go out of my way to offend but I’m just a matter-of-fact kind of person.

I can say that without reservation. I get up at 4:15 every morning to get ready for work and I don’t get home until around 5:30 or so at night. That’s a pretty long day for anybody.

The time in-between is filled with customer calls, analyzing database issues, etc. There isn’t a lot of time for anything else.

I’m sure I’m not the only one with this kind of Monday through Friday grind. But for those of us who do go through this five days a week, we find it difficult to concentrate on anything else.

And for myself, it makes me sad.

One thing that is left out of all of this is getting into the habit of thanking God during my day. I try to do this every morning before my feet hit the floor but sometimes that doesn’t always work out. For us Christians, it should be as much of an automatic habit as brushing our teeth twice a day.

Thanking God is something each of us need to do more of each and every day. We wake up each morning, thanks to the grace of God; we have our health thanks to God; we have a roof over our heads thanks to God.

I think you get what I mean.

“The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad.” (Psalm 126:3 KJV)

So while you’re going about your day, enjoying the warmer weather and the sunshine, remember that it is courtesy of God.

This specific verse has come up a couple of times in the last week or so. When this happens, I try to write something about it.

I’m not sure if I have mentioned in an earlier post but I had been praying to God about what His plan is for me. In fact, I may have been in my car going to work. Sometimes I do my best thinking in the car.

As I was driving, I asked Him “What is it that You will have me do to further Your work?

I have always wondered this. I am trying to study as much as I can and learn about His Word but I always felt that I needed to do more. While I was driving, a word came to me:

“Write.”

I’m pretty sure it wasn’t my own thoughts in my head. It just hit me out of the blue so I’m pretty sure it was Him telling me what He wanted me to do. So that’s what I’m trying to do, as much as I can.

One of those topics is Hebrews 9:22. I’ve heard it mentioned more than a few times in the last week so I thought I would write something about it.

“And almost all things are by the law purged with the blood; and without the shedding of blood is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22 KJV)

In order to properly understand what this passage is saying, we need to go back to the time of Moses and the laws of sacrifice.

Back in those days, there was no Messiah to whom you could turn for salvation and forgiveness. The sins committed by the people against God needed to be atoned for. To that end, the priest would sacrifice calves and goats. He would take their blood and pour it out around the altar and sprinkle it on the altar itself. This was part of the Old Testament covenant. The sins were not forgiven. The power of the sin was still there. The sin was simply atoned for.

Now move ahead some two thousand years later when Jesus Christ comes on the scene. He is the one and only Son of God; He is the Lamb of God who is willing to give of Himself for the remission of our sins. Not just as an atonement as in the days of the old covenant. His sacrifice on the cross will completely wash us of our sins. Every sin we have committed and will ever commit. The forgiveness of that sin can be found in the sacrifice made on the cross. This is the symbol of the new covenant which God has made with us! The shedding of His blood on the cross was necessary for the remission of our sins. Without the shedding of the blood, there is no remission of sins.

Every time I read the Bible or do an online Bible study (Chuck Missler is a great resource), I am amazed at the new and wonderful things I find. If anyone says that the Bible is a book of fairy tales, then they just haven’t taken the time to actually read it.

If you have not done so already, I invite you to take advantage of the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and place your trust in Him. Repent of the sins that you have committed, ask for forgiveness, and believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God and you will be guaranteed a place in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

The eggs are laid carefully in small wicker baskets, carefully lined with plastic grass, a marshmallow chick carefully guarding each colored ovoid. You might even have a rather large chocolate rabbit sitting in box somewhere near the basket. I know I did. I used to bite the ears off first. Not sure why. Maybe to keep it from hearing me eat the rest of it over the next week?

We then get dressed in our finest clothes and make our way to church to celebrate the season.

This day isn’t about the eggs or the rabbit or Easter egg hunts. The true message that we should take away is this: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That’s it. It couldn’t be more simple than that and yet there is so much more to it than that.

It’s about the love of a Father for his creation:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 NKJV)

It’s about a Son willing to sacrifice Himself and His body for the sins of mankind:

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted, but He as wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6 NKJV)

He was tortured, brutalized, and hung on a tree to die as a common criminal, guilty of only one thing: taking the sins of the world onto Himself.

On this Easter Sunday, let’s make sure to thank God for the sacrifice of His Son for our sins and to Jesus for willing giving of Himself for the iniquities of us all. Those who believe on Him will share in His grace and forgiveness of our sins.

If you haven’t accepted Christ, there is no better time than now. Right now, as you read this. If you have ever wondered where you are going to go when you die, then make the choice to follow Christ and be assured of your eternal destination.

I’ve been trying to come up with a new topic to write about. There are times when I find it difficult to come up with something new rather than trying to piggyback off of a story that’s already out there.

Then I saw the same Bible verse from Joshua twice in the same week from two different sources. I think He’s telling me where to start. Now I give it to the Holy Spirit to give me the words to put on the page.

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15 KJV).

At this time, Joshua has just brought the people of Israel into the promised land. The land of Canaan, at this time, was occupied by the Amorties. They had their own set of gods and did not worship God. Because of their worship of other gods, I believe some of the Israelites began to worship these gods. They had already begun doing this when Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments. They forced Aaron to make them a golden calf so that they could worship it.

I believe this to be the reason Joshua stated what he did in the above passage. If the Israelites were to enjoy the blessings of God, they needed to turn to Him and serve and worship Him and Him alone.

Do some of us worship our own gods? Money? Power? Cars? Jewelry? Social media?

These are all materialistic things and, in the grand scheme, have no value where God is concerned. We are always striving for the most expensive car or the nicest clothes and jewelry.

Now don’t get me wrong. It’s nice to have nice things but at what point do we start to worship these things rather than asking God for his provision?

We’ve become a materialistic society and our reliance on God has waned. We try to do better than what we think God would do for us. We are the ‘me me me’ generation. And I have fallen into this many times in my life. But now I’m trying to take a different perspective, with the understanding that God will provide all our needs. He may not give us what we want but He will provide exactly what we need.

I happened to be on Facebook earlier today and saw a post from Charisma News. The link to the story is at the end of the article.

The article states that there are Christians who believe that we (Christians) should go see ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and use it as a teaching tool for their children.

I couldn’t disagree more. I think there are things better left unsaid (and un-watched). Now, that being said, I will be the first to admit that I have not seen the movie but I have seen some of the character depictions and read about the story line, specifically the homosexual relationship part.

I would recommend you forgo the movie and opt for the cartoon instead. While I have heard claims that there is occult symbolism throughout many of Disney’s cartoons, I have yet to explore that area and may do so for a later post. For now, I think the cartoon is the better choice.

My first issue with the movie is the character of the Beast himself. The original cartoon portrayed him without horns. The live action version of the movie does not. The character does look familiar to another character we have seen before:

The above image is that of the Baphomet. The Baphomet’s origins are somewhat murky but it was believed that the Knights Templar worshiped this idol. It was then incorporated into various occult practices. It is currently the ‘mascot’ for the Church of Satan.

Why did Disney decide that the beast should have horns? I’m not sure we will ever get a definitive answer to that question but I thought it was worth mentioning.

My second issue is with the gay scene where LeFou has a romantic interest in Gaston and is scene dancing with a man during another scene. While these may seem harmless on the surface, they go against what God has stated in Leviticus and Romans:

“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with woman-kind; it is abomination.” (Leviticus 18:22 KJV).

“And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.” (Romans 1:27 KJV).

the scene, in and of itself, is completely unnecessary for the film. It was not in the cartoon version so why does it need to be in the live action version?

With all this being said, I think that movies like this should be avoided. Teach your children what is right and what is wrong in the eyes of God and they will be able to discern for themselves what the right thing to do is. Taking them to see this movie and using it as a teaching tool is, to me absurd. Where does it end? Do we show them pornography so they know what the world is like so we can teach against it? The answer to that is a resounding no.

This plays to a larger issue with the church (buildings) not feeding the church (body of Christ) proper nutrition. What I am typing in this (as good or bad as it might be) should be taught at a church service. I don’t see that happening. I see post after post of people saying that their church spends the majority of the service doing everything but praying and teaching from the Bible. We truly do need a revival.

As someone in the article stated (paraphrasing): ‘this is the world God gave us.’

Sorry, ma’am, but it isn’t. God gave us the Garden of Eden but Satan saw to it that it wouldn’t remain pure and perfect forever.

And it’s been going downhill ever since.

It’s sad that many Christians don’t care about this sort of thing will go with their children anyway.

And Satan will probably be cheering all of you on from the projection room.